- Indonesia: Headmaster detained after BBC investigation into alleged sexual abuse of students
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A former headmaster of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia has been named as a suspect in a sexual abuse investigation and detained by police, following a BBC Eye report. Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, known to students as Abah, led the Abul Barokat boarding school on the island of Lombok. Police reopened the case after the BBC World Service revealed accusations of sexual abuse against him, and documented how former students had gathered evidence in an effort to bring the allegations to the authorities. The story sparked public outrage and led to 12 more former students giving testimony to police. Central to the BBC Eye investigation were former students Ziadatur Rahmah, known as Zia, and Sukma Rohana Fajar. They launched their own investigation after Zia told a former classmate, Yusron Azzahidi, that the headteacher had sexually assaulted her when she was 17.” (10/10/26)
- TN: Pike discharged from hospital, returned to prison
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Christa Pike has been discharged from hospital and returned to a Tennessee women’s prison after surviving the US state’s attempt to [kill] her by lethal injection, her lawyers said on Saturday. The 50-year-old is back in the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center where she had been incarcerated for 30 years. She had been in hospital since September 30 when officials administered two doses of pentobarbital in an attempt to [kill] her. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.” (10/10/26)
- Myanmar: Young men live in fear of being snatched off the streets and sold to army
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“You do not stay out after dark if you’re young and able-bodied in Hpa-An, the capital of Myanmar’s southern Karen state. In recent months this has become conventional wisdom. But Zaw Min has no choice. ‘I worry, but I have to go out to work,’ says the 26-year-old tuk tuk driver, who asked that his real name be omitted out of fear for his safety. ‘My family call me all the time and remind me not to drive passengers too far; to be careful who I take as a passenger… I have to be vigilant all the time. People are panicked and frightened. Some people I know have been taken.’ Locals say plain-clothed members and supporters of the Myanmar junta have been roaming the streets of Hpa-An, arbitrarily arresting people in their teens, 20s and 30s and forcing them into military service.” (10/10/26)
- CA: Thousands of SF mail-in ballots damaged by machine before being sent out
Source: SFGate
“Thousands of vote-by-mail ballots in San Francisco have arrived at residents’ doorsteps with a long slit on the outer envelope this week, leading some community members to believe that they’ve been deliberately tampered with. However, after contacting the United States Postal Service, the city’s Department of Elections was able to figure out why, and has a much more mundane explanation for the ripped envelopes. After receiving reports of the torn envelopes and contacting USPS, the department found that the machines packing the mail-in ballots caused the tears, and USPS has switched over to packing them manually, the city said in an Oct. 7 news release. If the four ballot cards and return envelope are intact, voters can still send them in for processing.” (10/10/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/torn-ballots-san-francisco-22468392.php
- CA: ICE gang member f*cks around, finds out
Source: New York Times
“An off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was shot early Friday after he was found sleeping on the lawn of a home in Fresno, Calif., the authorities said. … David Gonzalez, an ICE agent from Texas, had been sleeping on the lawn when a woman returned to her house and saw him, the police said. The woman told her father, who was inside the house. The father, 72, woke up Mr. Gonzalez, who appeared ‘intoxicated and agitated,’ the police said. Mr. Gonzalez then assaulted the 72-year-old man, causing several ‘visible injuries,’ and then assaulted his daughter when she tried to intervene, the police said. The woman’s father then pulled out a firearm and shot Mr. Gonzalez once…. Gonzalez, 32, was charged with felony assault and vandalism, the Fresno Police Department said. He was taken away from the scene in an ambulance and received treatment while an investigation was carried out, the police said.” (10/09/16)
- Seeking Big Weekend Energy
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Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Nobel Peace Prize 2026 awarded to ICC judge
Source: CBS News
“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 was awarded Friday to Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay, a South African human rights champion and judge on the International Criminal Court. The Nobel Committee said awarding the prestigious prize to someone on the ICC, which has faced huge pressure from the Trump administration, was a message to those who seek to undermine international justice. The South African-born former United Nations human rights chief, who is 85 years old, was recognized for her efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. ‘This is definitely a message to those who are undermining the international system and institutions,’ Frydnes said.” (10/09/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nobel-peace-prize-2026-navanethem-navi-pillay-south-africa/
- Russian strikes on Ukraine’s public buses leave 30 dead as blackouts worsen in Kyiv
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“A Russian-guided bomb exploded next to public buses filled with passengers in eastern Ukraine, authorities said Thursday, killing 30 people as part of a wave of attacks that also worsened power outages in the capital. … Thursday’s attack followed a Russian missile strike a day earlier that killed 22, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky. Rescuers were searching the rubble of a residential building. At least 54 people were wounded. Several survivors slept in heavily damaged apartments because they couldn’t find anywhere else to stay. … Ukraine’s energy company DTEK said national grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered emergency power outages in Kyiv. Regular, rolling outages that occur on a schedule across the country will be halted during these shutdowns.” (10/08/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/10/08/g-s1-147106/russia-ukraine-war
- NYC: ICE thug attempts to murder motorist with five-year-old reportedly in car
Source: The Guardian
“A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [gang member] shot and injured a man in New York City on Thursday afternoon during an [abduction] operation, federal officials said. The man was conscious and hospitalized, authorities said, and the shooting quickly sparked angry protests from local residents and elected officials in the neighborhood. Early reports indicated that [gang members] had surrounded the man and a five-year-old child in his car in a residential area before firing multiple rounds, the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said in a statement on Thursday evening. The child was physically unharmed, he said.” (10/08/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/08/nyc-shooting-federal-agent
- US weekly initial jobless claims edge down to 197,000
Source: Investing.com
“The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits inched down last week, but remained within a recent range, suggesting ongoing resilience in the U.S. labor market despite employer caution around increasing hiring. Initial jobless claims stood at 197,000 in the week ending October 3, a decline of 2,000 from the prior week and lower than expectations of 200,000. Over a four-week average, which accounts for volatility in the weekly figure, jobless claims dipped to 198,000 from 200,500. Continuing claims, a hiring proxy that measures the amount of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, edged up to 1.716 million in the week ending on September 26. The previous week’s number was revised down to 1.699 million from 1.701 million.” (10/08/26)
- Hegseth vows to make first military firing squad killing since WW2 “public”
Source: CNN
“US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this week that the [killing] of the man who killed 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in 2009 would be ‘public.’ ‘We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,’ Hegseth told far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday. A Pentagon official said Thursday that the [killing] ‘will be livestreamed,’ but did not offer more details. … Hasan was convicted in July 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. During his trial, he told the panel of 13 officers that he was targeting soldiers who would deploy to Afghanistan and ‘were going to engage in an illegal war.'” (10/08/26)
- Crew-12 astronauts return to Earth after nearly eight months in space
Source: Space.com
“The four astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission returned to Earth this morning (Oct. 8) after nearly eight months in space. Crew-12’s Crew Dragon capsule, named ‘Freedom,’ undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday morning (Oct. 7) at 8:05 a.m. EDT (1205 GMT), beginning a roughly 27-hour trip back to its home planet. Everything went well during the journey: Freedom splashed down as planned in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles today at 11:34 a.m. EDT (1534 GMT).” (10/08/26)
- Rodrigo Duterte ruled fit to stand trial at ICC
Source: United Press International
“The International Criminal Court announced Thursday that former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is fit to stand trial in The Hague, the Netherlands. Duterte is facing charges for his war on drugs during his presidency, from 2016 to 2022, in which tens of thousands of small-time drug dealers were executed. The ICC’s case includes killings from Nov. 1, 2011, when Duterte was the mayor of Davao, until March 2019, when he pulled his country from ICC membership. On Sept. 16, he appeared at the ICC for a status hearing to verify his health. Duterte’s lawyers have said his health is fading and he would be unfit. The trial is set to begin Nov. 30.” (10/08/26)
- Trump bought up to $25 million in Meta and millions in SpaceX debt in August
Source: CNBC
“President Donald Trump disclosed more than 500 securities transactions in August, including a purchase of up to $25 million in Meta stock and an investment of as much as $5 million in SpaceX debt two days before he signed a sweeping policy aimed at expanding U.S. commercial space transportation, according to a newly released financial disclosure. The 517 purchases and sales totaled roughly $74.3 million to $273.3 million, according to a CNBC analysis of Trump’s August financial disclosure, which reports each item in a range of value. Purchases accounted for at least $44.2 million and sales at least $30.1 million, CNBC calculated. The 18-page filing shows Trump’s portfolio remained highly active, even as trading slowed from June and July, when he disclosed more than 1,000 transactions in each month.” (10/08/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/trump-august-trades-meta-spacex-financial-disclosure.html
- South Korea: Regime test-flies its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon
Source: ABC News
“South Korea flight-tested on Thursday its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon, designed to fly at least five times the speed of sound and evade missile defense systems, bringing Seoul closer to what it says could be game-changing weapons capabilities. There was no immediate response from North Korea, which last week tested its own hypersonic missile that landed in the waters near Japan. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attended the test, saying it’s a major step in strengthening the country’s conventional defense capabilities, according to a statement. It did not elaborate where the test took place.” (10/08/26)
- France: Police attack protesting students with chemical weapons
Source: US News & World Report
“Dozens of students dragged rubbish bins into position outside a high school in northeastern Paris early on Thursday, erecting fresh barricades before police moved in with tear gas as France’s nationwide protests show few signs of ending. The Helene Boucher Lycee has been a flashpoint for clashes in the French capital, and is one of hundreds of schools disrupted by protesters Thursday. … Police have made more than 6,600 arrests since late September, when students, most of them under 18, started protesting to demand more education funding, according to the Interior Ministry. The Education Ministry said that 375 schools were either fully or partially closed on Thursday.” (10/08/26)
- Daylight saving time fight isn’t over as House GOP presses Senate to end clock-turning forever
Source: Fox News
“House GOP leadership is ratcheting up pressure on its Senate counterparts to pass legislation making daylight saving time permanent after President Donald Trump called on Congress to act. The House’s No. 2 leader, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital that ‘there’s no reason Americans should lose an hour of sunlight at the end of the day when more daylight means more time with our families, more activity for our businesses and safer communities.’ ‘President Trump has been pushing to make daylight saving time permanent, and House Republicans delivered by overwhelmingly passing the Sunshine Protection Act. It’s a commonsense change and the Senate should take it up,’ Scalise said.” (10/08/26)
- Report: Amazon cuts approximately 1,000 roles in latest workforce reduction
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“Amazon has eliminated approximately 1,000 roles across several teams, including its Stores business, customer service, marketplace support, and retail engineering operations. Business Insider reported that employees received emails on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, stating that their roles had been eliminated. An Amazon spokesperson told the publication that ‘a small number’ of positions, mainly in the Stores business, had been removed that day. Messages reviewed by the publication from an internal Slack channel with almost 37,000 members indicated that employees in India and the UK were among those affected.” (10/08/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-cuts-approximately-1-000-085032527.html
- Spain: Woman whose eviction sparked housing protests dies at 87 as crowds chant “murder”
Source: New York Post
“Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Spanish woman whose dramatic eviction last month sparked mass housing protests that led to an early election, has died, the Madrid tenants’ union said on Wednesday, as thousands demonstrated over her death. Abascal had been in hospital for severe anxiety and exhaustion since her eviction on September 23 from her home of more than 70 years, when police and social workers removed her by stretcher. Her case ignited protests over a mounting housing crisis including a shortage of homes and surging rents. Activists camped out in a major Madrid square. …Trade unions on Wednesday announced a nationwide general strike over housing issues on November 11. The protests, along with parliament’s rejection last week of decrees aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an early election for November 29.” (10/08/26)
- Naked, gilded Trump statue goes on display at EU Parliament
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“A gilded statue of US President Donald Trump naked went on display in the European Parliament building in Strasbourg on Tuesday. Danish artist Jens Galschiot is exhibiting the satirical statue, titled ‘Orange Plague’ and also known as ‘King of Injustice’, at the parliament’s headquarters in the eastern French city. It shows the president sitting naked on the shoulders of a much smaller man. In his hand, he holds a long golf club. Including its pedestal, the statue is around 2.5 metres tall and, according to the artist, is coated with 23-carat gold. An orange cloth covering it was removed when it was unveiled on Tuesday. The statue stands at one of the parliament’s busiest intersections connecting two buildings. It is scheduled to remain on display through Thursday.” (10/08/26)
- When will Mamdani care about victims of crimes the same way he does about illegal [sic] migrants?
Source: New York Post
by Kirsten Fleming“An alleged gangbanger in this country illegally [sic] was shot and wounded by ICE [gangbangers] in The Bronx on Thursday. And by the way New York politicians immediately reacted (with press conferences and outraged tweets the length of ‘War and Peace’) one would think ICE had made swiss cheese of a sweet grandma as she handed out Werther’s Originals to the neighborhood children. All the usual suspects reflexively grabbed a microphone and called to ‘abolish ICE’ in the name of Oscar Belgal, who reportedly used his car to smash through a vehicle barricade before accelerating toward ICE [gangbangers]. Belgal’s 5-year-old son was in the car and was unharmed, no thanks to his pathetic excuse of a father. Still, an outraged Mayor Mamdani stood alongside AG Tish James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams declaring war on ICE.” (10/09/26)
- US leaves Iraq: ‘Shock and awe’ curdles into ‘Aw, shucks’
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Mark Thompson“The U.S. ends its military campaign in Baghdad after 23 years of fighting. The campaign cost 4,418 US troops their lives and will end up costing nearly $3 trillion through 2050.” (10/09/’26)
- A Brief Guide to Trump’s Vote Buying Schemes
Source: CounterPunch
by Peter Hart“As the midterm elections approach, it’s safe to say that things don’t look great for Donald Trump’s Republican Congressional majority. He has responded by the usual threats and bluster, but also by promising to send voters money. Now, it should be said that politicians make promises all the time – to voters in general or to more specific constituents. This is part of the process. But sending out quick payments to voters right before an election, and promising a big payday if voters deliver his party a victory, are highly unusual moves.” (10/09/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/10/09/a-brief-guide-to-trumps-vote-buying-schemes/
- Evangelizing a Post-Literate Society
Source: Law & Liberty
by Nadya Williams[W]hy exactly is it so bad that screens have destroyed so many people’s ability to focus and read since 1980, and even more dramatically since 2007? What do we lose if people no longer read like it’s the 1770s? Quite a bit, [James] Marriott contends. One significant concern for him is the damage to politics that he blames on the decline of reading: ‘Perhaps the most worrying victim of the Great Simplification is our public discourse. It seems that our distracted and trivial culture increasingly struggles to sustain a rational debate on almost any issue.’ In other words, reading trains our brains to engage with ideas in earnest and to use our attention spans to listen to elaborate arguments and process them afterwards. But those who do not have these skills are unable to engage with serious arguments in the public sphere.” (10/09/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/evangelizing-a-post-literate-society/
- America Mobilizing to Protect Midterms
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish“Thousands of people are preparing to protect the midterm elections and mobilize immediately if President Trump interferes with the results. They are drawing lessons from the American civil rights era and from fights against authoritarianism worldwide, attending political education classes, and reassessing exactly how much they will risk, personally, to stand between a government takeover and the will of the voters. ‘There’s a deeper, broader, bolder set of efforts afoot to prepare people for much more existential scenarios that could come our way that would call into question the pillars of our democracy itself for what it’s for and who it’s for,’ said Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union. ‘People are zeroing in.’ He’s organizing with May Day Strong, which this month hosted more than 750 ‘solidarity school’ training sessions nationwide.” (10/09/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/10/09/america-mobilizing-to-protect-midterms-trump-election/
- Hormuz and the Looming Economic Catastrophe
Source: The American Conservative
by Philip Pilkington“Treasury bonds are not just any old asset. For one, they are the debt of the U.S. government. If they become uninvestable, the capacity for Washington to live beyond its means through debt issuance is open to question. Treasuries are also the benchmark asset for the entire global dollar system that has allowed the U.S. to run enormous deficits for decades. If this asset starts ‘trading like a meme stock’ and generating awful returns, foreigners will opt for something else. … The Trump administration has become fixated on the Strait of Hormuz, seeing it as a decisive battlefield on which the U.S. can win the war. But the Strait is merely a means to an end. For Iran, that end is to slowly demolish the American economy and financial system until the pressure becomes too much and the U.S. backs off.” (10/09/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/hormuz-and-the-looming-economic-catastrophe/
- Economic Blockades: Protectionism As Punishment
Source: The Daily Economy
by Caleb S Fuller & Scott Burns“Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day’ against Iran bears an uncanny resemblance to his ‘Liberation Day’ strategy for America. Both rely on the same basic mechanism: restricting trade. Yet Trump assures us they will produce opposite results. For Americans, trade restrictions will bring economic revival; for Iran, they will bring economic ruin. You don’t need a PhD in economics — or any degree at all — to spot the contradiction. The renowned American economist Henry George — a middle school dropout who taught himself economics — exposed the paradox of protectionism in 1886: ‘What protection teaches us is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.'” (10/08/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/economic-blockades-protectionism-as-punishment/
- Bring US Forces Home — From Around the World
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow“No doubt, the military must be vigilant in protecting personnel and equipment from threats, especially those assessed as significant and imminent. Yet who imagined that the Pentagon would believe itself unable to protect aircraft based in the UK from Iran? What if America was battling Russia—would the administration also withdraw its bombers from the UK? Withdraw all planes from all Europe? Empty its bases in Asia and the Middle East as well? … The president, as well as other leading policymakers in Washington, should treat the threat to America’s overextended military as an opportunity. Time is long past for retrenchment, winding down a global presence that no longer serves serious, let alone vital, American interests.” (10/08/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/bring-u-s-forces-home-from-around-the-world/
- Trump’s Steel Policy Is Working. That’s the Problem
Source: Bloomberg
by Scott Lincicome“With great fanfare, President Donald Trump announced last week that ‘the largest steel plant ever built in the United States’ would be coming to Lee County, Iowa, adding that Mesabi Metallics’[s] $15 billion investment in a pivotal midterm swing state proved his ‘powerful 50% tariffs’ were working. He’s right: The announcement is a tangible result of American steel policy — but, contrary to what the president said, that’s not a good thing. Start with the project’s real price tag. Thanks to tariffs and other trade restrictions, US steel prices are among the highest in the world …. Because steel-consuming industries greatly outnumber steelmakers in the US, studies have repeatedly shown that steel tariffs, whether imposed by Trump in 2018 or George W. Bush in 2002, caused a net reduction in US manufacturing output and employment — effects that, in the latter case, persisted for years after the levies were lifted.” (10/08/26)
- Congress can reclaim its spending and war powers by revising two policies
Source: The Hill
by Maya Kornberg“In one of his latest examples of executive overreach, President Trump cancelled $810 million in congressionally authorized spending, yet again undermining Congress’s power of the purse. From funding freezes to illegal wars, Trump has repeatedly tried to seize Congress’s constitutional powers throughout this term. The Government Accountability Office pushed back on the recent cancellation. And there are finally signs that Congress is starting to get fed up. Lawmakers from both parties are reportedly discussing how to adjust future spending bills to make sure this doesn’t happen again. But Congress must go much further in clawing its power back. Lawmakers must learn from congressional history and reassert their authority to check executive abuse, particularly on the power of the purse and war-making.” (10/08/26)
- Israeli Carnage in Lebanon Is Part Of a Pattern
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“Since March, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have displaced more than a million civilians and killed or wounded more than 17,000 people. Al Jazeera reported last month that ‘Israeli artillery shelling is still causing uncontrollable fires. Lebanese civil defense and firefighters are not being allowed by the Israelis to reach these areas and put out the flames. More than 60 towns in southern Lebanon are still occupied by the Israeli army, where the Israelis are carrying out a systematic campaign of demolitions.’ The war in Iran and the continued carnage in Gaza have squeezed out American media coverage of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut. But Israel is repeating the same strategy and the storyline that it has used to justify attacking Lebanon since the dawn of the Reagan era.” (10/08/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/10/08/israeli-carnage-in-lebanon-is-part-of-a-pattern/
- It’s not “victim blaming” to ask how women can better protect themselves from sexual assault
Source: New York Post
by Rikki Schlott“An alleged gang rape at Cornell University has set the internet ablaze with debate. But whenever anyone asks what the victim did to find themselves in that situation, they’re chastised. Yet these are exactly the kinds of conversations we need to be having to protect other women from similar fates. Pointing out a woman’s missteps does not mean one believes she deserves what happened to her. It helps stop the same thing from happening again.” (10/08/26)
- Price Controls Don’t Work. So Why Do So Many Democrats and Republicans Love Them?
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy“Prices are the manifestations of countless decisions by buyers and sellers, each acting on individual knowledge no one else has. No buyer’s budget and needs, and no seller’s costs and offerings, are identical. Only a free market can account for this and decide whether a price sticks. Creating laws to cap prices doesn’t make scarcity go away. It just shows up as empty shelves instead of a market-determined price.” (10/08/26)
- How to Stop the Feds: James Madison’s Forgotten Blueprint
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin“Going to the federal government to convince the federal government to limit its own power? That’s not just bad strategy and a lost cause. It’s dangerous to the Constitution and liberty. James Madison gave us the answer – a blueprint for beating the feds without relying on the feds to magically do what they never do – limit their own power. All backed up by the ultimate safeguard for freedom: a highly armed and highly trained general population ready to protect their own constitution and their own liberty against all enemies, foreign or domestic.” (10/08/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/10/08/how-to-stop-the-feds-james-madisons-forgotten-blueprint/
- Libertarian Party Sues Former Chair McArdle
Source: The Porter Files
by Jake Porter“On October 1, the Libertarian National Committee filed a 25 page lawsuit against its former Chair Angela McArdle and her domestic partner, Austin Padgett, seeking monetary relief between $250,000 and $1,000,000. … A legal petition is of course allegations and not a not a conviction or a legal finding. McArdle and Padgett haven’t answered yet. Watch for a motion to dismiss, then the process of discovery where the LNC likely attempts to get access to bank statements.” (10/08/26)
https://jakeporter.substack.com/p/libertarian-party-sues-former-chair
- The Technicolor cave of liberalism
Source: hypertext
by Laura K Field“If you pay attention to the MAGA New Right, you will notice a pattern whereby their premier thinkers often wax allegorical about the liberal order in terms that echo Plato’s image of the cave. The names they confer upon liberal democracy are varied and motley: We hear of the ‘administrative state’ and the ‘managerial elite,’ the Cathedral, Longhouse, Gynocracy, and Davoisie. Postliberals like Patrick Deneen and Adrian Vermeule speak of ‘Liberalocracy’ and ‘Sacramental Liberalism’; others of the ‘Negative World’ or simply the ‘Regime.’ But from these various right-wing factions, you will hear a chorus of red-pilled agreement: The liberal-democratic way of life is emasculating and unholy, hypocritical, socially corrosive, and unstable. Perhaps above all else, it is dishonest: ‘They are lying hypocrites!’ the chorus exclaims. Into this counter-revolutionary fray waltzes the political theorist Alexandre Lefebvre, with his wonderfully unconventional book, Liberalism as a Way of Life.” (10/08/26)
https://hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/the-technicolor-cave-of-liberalism
- It Took A Live-Streamed Genocide To Punch Through The Wall Of Western Apathy
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“I never asked to know what a dismembered child looks like. Israel imposed that knowledge upon me. I never wanted to know what it looks like when military explosives blow an infant’s head off. I only know it because Israel forced me to know it. The reason the Gaza holocaust hit westerners so hard is because it punched through the wall of our shitbrained western supremacist narcissism and our vapid mainstream culture and shook us violently awake to something real and terrifying. All of a sudden the idea that our bombs are killing people in the middle east was no longer a vague abstraction sitting in the periphery of our awareness.” (10/08/26)
- Liberty Suicide
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Modern-day Americans have engaged in what might be called ‘liberty suicide,’ an act by which they have willingly killed their own freedom through their support of various liberty-destroying governmental programs. The biggest example of this liberty suicide was the conversion of the federal government from a limited-government republic to a national-security state.” (10/08/26)
- Republicans Are Fighting Again. Let’s Enjoy the Show.
Source: American Greatness
by Spyridon Andrews“There are plenty of reasons for Republican voters to be pissed off about the upcoming election. The Iran War, the economic consequences of another Middle Eastern adventure, the unfinished DOGE business, the Epstein debacle, and the seemingly endless supply of Republican congressmen who arrive in Washington promising to clean up the swamp and immediately begin looking for waterfront property. Then there are the allegations of congressional misconduct and taxpayer-funded settlements, which ought to make everybody furious regardless of party. It’s quite a spectacle, and we haven’t even gotten to the Democrats yet. … There are, however, a few things we have to keep in mind. First of all, the split within the Republican Party is nothing new.” (10/08/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/10/08/republicans-are-fighting-again-lets-enjoy-the-show/
- Before Regulating AI, Try the Laws We Already Have
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by John Chisholm“[W]e don’t have to anticipate every AI harm. AI is already regulated. Generally applicable law regulates conduct and harm, not the technology used to produce them. There is no AI exemption. Fraud is fraud, with or without AI. Negligence law applies to both AI developers and deployers. In 2024, for example, a British Columbia tribunal held Air Canada negligent over a refund policy its chatbot invented, rejecting the airline’s argument that the chatbot was responsible for its own words. Courts are also weighing product-liability claims—design defect, failure to warn—against AI makers. … These bodies of law hold those responsible liable for harms, which gives developers strong reason to prevent them.” (10/08/26)
https://fee.org/articles/before-regulating-ai-try-the-laws-we-already-have/
- Too Many in US Working Class Have No Political Home
Source: Common Dreams
by Les Leopold“To free the working class from MAGA’s Trumpian grasp, is a new political organization needed to topple the corporate interests that dominate both major political parties?” (10/08/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/working-class-independent-association
- The “Warp Speed” That Worked Best
Source: Independent Institute
by Raymond J March“The World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 public-health emergency more than three years ago. Its deaths, infections, hospitalizations, and other damage still leave us with a litany of questions about what could have been done better, sooner, or differently. It’s a long list: mask mandates, lockdowns, school closures, stay-at-home orders, curfews, delayed surgeries, etc. Operation Warp Speed, the public-and-private partnership with billions of dollars to bring us a COVID-19 vaccine quickly, never seems to be on it. Rather, the partnership remains hailed as ‘a triumph of public health policy,’ ‘miraculous,’ and ‘a new model for industrial policy.’ … For all the accomplishments of Operation Warp Speed, it was not the first of its kind. In fact, it has an overlooked and largely forgotten predecessor that didn’t require any government partnership at all.” (10/08/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/08/original-operation-warp-speed/
- Douglass’s Two Constitutions
Source: Law & Liberty
by John O McGinnis“When Frederick Douglass began to appreciate the Constitution, it was a turning point in the drama of emancipation.” (10/08/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/douglasss-two-constitutions/
- American Caudillo
Source: Persuasion
by Quico Toro“Venezuelans recognize strongman politics when we see them.” (10/08/26)
- Vaccine Injury: A Glimpse of the Scale
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Elizabeth Mumper“A birth cohort study at Henry Ford followed 18,000 children to compare chronic health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated from birth through long‑term follow‑up. After multivariate adjustment, vaccination exposure showed a higher risk of chronic conditions, including asthma, autoimmune disease, atopic disease, eczema, and neurodevelopmental disorders. By 10 years of follow‑up, 57% of vaccinated children had chronic illness compared with 17% of the unvaccinated. Vaccination was independently associated with a 2.5‑fold increased likelihood of chronic health conditions. Academia chose not to publish the study, citing concerns about career repercussions.” (10/08/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/vaccine-injury-a-glimpse-of-the-scale/
- Blue skies for blue-collar work
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Is one of the world’s most pernicious social stigmas finally lifting? In late September, more than 1,400 young people from nearly 70 countries locked tools at the WorldSkills competition, testing their abilities across 64 crafts, from industrial robotics to culinary techniques. This Olympics-like contest, held in Shanghai this year, has grown in stature and scope over decades. And so, perhaps, has a favorable view of blue-collar work. A survey of the skilled tradespeople pitted against each other for four days found 71% believe the public image of technical and vocational careers has improved. Three-quarters (76%) of respondents say technical and vocational skills are increasingly important to the global economy. Yet just over half had been encouraged by parents or others toward traditional academic paths. In the United States, at least, such advice nowadays makes less sense.” (10/08/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/1008/Blue-skies-for-blue-collar-work
- Senators Should Answer to Voters, Not Factions
Source: Townhall
by Armstrong Williams“Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said something out loud this weekend that many in Washington have long understood: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), he argued, lives in fear of the far-left wing of his party. Thune pointed to Democrats blocking debate on military funding and a defense authorization bill, as well as resistance around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He also recalled the backlash Schumer faced after voting to reopen the government during an earlier shutdown fight. In Thune’s telling, Schumer learned the price of defying his party’s loudest faction and has deferred to it ever since. Thune’s criticism deserves scrutiny. He is a Republican leader making a partisan argument, and his account is not the whole story. But the larger point is difficult to dismiss: Party leaders increasingly govern under threat from their own flanks.” (10/08/26)
- Is Iran poised to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Wendy Ramadan-Alban“These continuous calls by ultraconservatives to withdraw from the NPT have yet to produce an actual withdrawal because of a lack of political consensus. Iran has remained in the treaty despite the war, unprecedented economic pressure, and the return of U.N. sanctions. But is continued NPT membership still an asset for Iran?” (10/08/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-non-proliferation-treaty/
- The Party of Rape
Source: Liberal Currents
by Adam Gurri“Republicans always attempt to pin any incident of violence aimed in their direction on liberals, who have done nothing more than point to the objective fact of Trump’s authoritarianism. Republicans, meanwhile, are openly the party of rape and domestic abuse. … The Republican Party is the party of Andrew Tate, of Richard Hanania, and, more than anything, of Donald Trump—a rapist, an open misogynist, and all-around avatar of male supremacism.” (10/08/26)
- Things Fall Apart in Ethiopia …
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen“The underlying drivers were never mysterious. Prime Minister Abiy’s centralizing ambitions, to say nothing of his authoritarian tactics and ethnic chauvinism, have understandably collided with Tigrayan and Amharan demands for security and autonomy. Eritrea, which fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces against the TPLF in the last war, has since turned hostile. Relations between Addis Ababa and its former province turned neighbor deteriorated sharply as Abiy began again to discuss openly Ethiopia’s dire need for cheap and secure Red Sea access – particularly through the Eritrean port of Assab.” (10/08/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/things-fall-apart-in-ethiopia/
- The Case for Impeachment: If Trump’s misconduct is not impeachable, nothing is
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
by Michael J Gerhardt & Michael Stokes Paulsen“The failure of impeachment to meaningfully check corrupt or tyrannical presidents, because of partisan acquittals, may be the Constitution’s greatest modern failure. It is a betrayal of the principles that inspired the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.” (10/08/26)
- Democracy [sic] Works When We Defend It
Source: OtherWords
by Nicholas Martinez“With less than a month before the midterm elections, attempts by President Donald Trump and his administration to keep certain Americans from voting will likely continue. Voting is how we get an equal say in the decisions that impact our lives, regardless of race, disability, zip code, language, or income. That’s why we need to ensure that every eligible voter can cast their ballot free from fear, intimidation, or unnecessary barriers. Anti-democratic forces might dominate the headlines, but they have not dominated the outcomes. That’s important. Our democracy is strongest when voters can fully participate. Our elections are strongest when election officials can do their jobs free from political interference. And our future is strongest when Americans believe that their voice matters.” (10/08/26)
- Whether It’s Banning Books or Preventing Macklemore From Touring, Silencing Artists Often Backfires
Source: CounterPunch
by Naveen Basavaraj“In 2003, singer Barbra Streisand tried to remove aerial photos of her home from the internet. But her efforts to take down the images only drove more people to seek them out. Two decades later, the Streisand effect has become a kind of internet maxim: Trying to bury something often ends up amplifying it. Working with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University and George Mason University, I wanted to explore how this phenomenon plays out – and whether it’s simply internet folk wisdom or something that can be backed up with data.” (10/08/26)
- Crude Awakening
Source: The American Prospect
by Marueen Tkacik“A reviled ‘boligarch’ and his right-wing adversaries are engaged in a low-level war, but the only people who will feel the impact are the Venezuelan people.” (10/08/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/10/08/crude-awakening-alejandro-betancourt-venezuela-oil/
- Kill the Class Warfare
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“Billionaires haven’t done anything wrong merely by earning great wealth. Typically, they’ve done something right. They’ve been industrious and entrepreneurial and helped people improve their lives. Typically, they earn their billions; which, incidentally, they don’t stuff under a giant mattress but invest further. This doesn’t stop the [proposed California wealth] tax’s demagogic proponents, like Ro Khanna, from claiming that the interests of the ‘donor class’ are inherently opposed to those of the ‘working class.’ Khanna wants government to privilege one ‘class’ over the other. But as Dmitri Bolt points out, neither should get a government-enforced advantage.” (10/08/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/10/08/kill-the-class-warfare/
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 10/09/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rage at Fox Backfires as Aides Leak Humiliating Motive Behind It.” (10/09/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/216438/trump-rage-fox-backfires-aides-leak-humiliating-motive-behind
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 499
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Brad Sandefur on running for Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois.” (10/09/26)
https://rumble.com/v7gll0o-ff-499-brad-sandefur-on-running-for-sheriff-of-cook-county-illinois.html
- Show-Me Institute Podcast, 10/09/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“A Menu of Housing Reforms with Salim Furth.” (10/09/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/economy/a-menu-of-housing-reforms-with-salim-furth/
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 601
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley discuss televised public executions, libertarian reputation ratings, and this HEADLINE: North Carolina Woman Doesn’t Have First Amendment Right to Publish Video of Cop Shooting Her Dogs, Court Rules.” (10/09/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/10/09/the-anarchist-experience-601/
- The Political Orphanage, 10/08/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Europe is Freeloading on American Healthcare.” (10/08/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/europe-is-freeloading-on-american-healthcare
- Anarcho Agenda, episode 151
Source: Anarcho Agenda
“Dallin Oaks calls it the common good, I call it a limit on you.” (10/08/26)
- Underthrow Podcast, 10/08/26
- Nonzero, 10/08/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Inside Elon’s Mind | Robert Wright & Alex Gibney.” (10/08/26)
- Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 10/08/26
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Patrick Wood (Editor-In-Chief of Technocracy.News; Author of Technocracy Rising; Trilaterals over Washington) on his new book, Crucible of Tokens: Tokenization, Stablecoins, and the New Architecture of Global Banking.” (10/08/26)
- Politics Politics Politics, 10/08/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Are These Senate Races Widening or Tightening? The Most Expensive Midterms Ever (with Dave Levinthal).” (10/08/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/are-these-senate-races-widening-or
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 10/08/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Says He Won’t Bomb Iran Before Midterms, Ansar Allah Pounds Saudi Airports, and More.” (10/08/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 10/08/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Out With A Bang? Trump May Attack Iran BEFORE Midterms!” (10/08/26)
- Libertarian Angle, 10/08/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Horrors and Fallacies of Socialism.” (10/08/26)
- Rising, 10/08/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on a survey showing that nearly 90% of American senior citizens support higher taxes on younger workers to protect social security benefits.” (10/08/26)
- The Daily, 10/08/26
Source: New York Times
“A Failed Execution and the Future of the Death Penalty.” (10/08/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 10/08/26
Source: The New Republic
“As Republicans start fearing they’re heading into George W. Bush 2006 territory, a leading forecaster explains how Trump’s low approval is expanding the map for Democrats in hidden ways.” (10/08/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/216379/trump-polls-take-brutal-turn-allies-grow-rattled-worse-2006
- Year Zero with Tommy Salmon, 10/08/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Myth and Douglas Carter w/Kyle Matovcik and John Weeks.” (10/08/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/myth-and-douglas-carter-w-kyle-matovcik-and-john-weeks/
- The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen, 10/08/26
Source: The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen
“Can states and municipalities sue oil companies over climate change?” (10/08/26)
https://rosenjeffrey.substack.com/p/can-states-and-municipalities-sue
- Advisory Opinions, 10/07/26
Source: The Dispatch
“SUNCOR Gets Complicated.” (10/08/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/suncor-gets-complicated/
- TAC Right Now, 10/07/26
Source: The American Conservative
“Is Trump Winning the Hormuz Battle? w/ Rosemary Kelanic.” (10/07/26)